Promise Me
by White Belt Writer
Summary: ONE-SHOT In which Korra asks Mako to make a promise he doesn't want to keep.


**This damn idea got stuck in my head in the middle of the night and demanded that I write it.**

**I'm not happy about.**

**And for the record, this is a one-shot and is going to REMAIN a one-shot because I don't think I could take continuing.**

**If one of you wants to try the idea; be my guest, and more power to ya, because I can't.**

**Post Out Of the Past**

**I own nothing.**

**Please R&R**

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Air Temple Island was peaceful and quiet.

A little too much so for Mako's taste having grown up in the city, and to whom the honks and yells of the city's nights were something akin to a lullaby.

Not that he disliked the quiet. It just made sleep come a little harder to him, causing him to have to get up and move around to try to become sleepy again.

Which is exactly what he was doing now.

Mako enjoyed walking around the island at night. It was an even calmer place at night then it was during the day. That may have something to do with the resident airbending children being asleep, but he didn't waste much time dwelling on it.

Instead he continued to walk down one of the island's many path; letting his mind wander as little or as much as it wanted to.

Eventually the path split into two and, on an impulse, he decided to take the one with the most amounts of leaves and least amount of snow on it. It led him down a winding path through a tunnel of tree branches with beams of moonlight shattering the darkness as the moon spirit Tui peeked through the treetop to watch him.

As all things do, the path ended at a small clearing, at the center of which was an even smaller pavilion. Just beyond the clearing was the telltale drop of a cliff, facing off towards the ocean. As if satisfied that he had found his way, Tui hid her face behind a bank of clouds and the clearing fell into darkness.

Curious, Mako moved towards the structure, which he could now tell was as old as any other building on the island, if not more so. The paint was faded but the wood seemed to be as smoothed as the day it was built, and the roof didn't seem to have any holes in it that he could see.

As he moved closer, the firebender realized that there was something seated at the center of the pavilion and as he arrived next to one of it's openings Tui showed her face again, revealing the back of someone with a light-blue sleeveless shirt and long dark hair done up in a pony-tail.

"Korra?" Mako asked inquisitively.

Shocked out of her meditations, the Avatar twisted around and was surprised to see Mako standing behind her with a face that mirrored her expression before turning into one of annoyance.

"Korra, what are you doing out here?" He began to lecture, "You should be resting in your room, not out here catching your death of cold!"

Indeed, Korra should have been resting; her wounds had been healed by a very experienced waterbender, but she still wasn't back to full health yet if the bandages on her face and arms were any indication.

Still, the Avatar simply smiled and said, "Relax, Mako. I'm just mediating, and if you think this is cold then you have _never_ been to the South Pole during a blizzard. Now _that_ is cold."

She said it in a jokingly manner, but even in the dim light of the moon Mako could see something in her eyes. Something that made him even more worried than he already was.

"Are you ok?" He asked bluntly, "You seem…concerned about something."

Her smile became sadder before she turned back to the ocean. "It's nothing. Just…thinking is all."

'_Oh, that can't be good,'_ Mako thought. "Thinking about what, exactly?"

Korra shrugged without turning around, and said, "Tarrlok, the Equalists… Amon…. you know, the usual."

The firebender, not believing for a second that she was telling him everything, walked around and squatted down in front of her so his face was level with hers'.

Her eyes were closed but he knew she knew that he was there.

"Korra," he started gently, "What aren't you telling me?"

He studied her face as he waited for an answer. Watched her brow furrow as she tried to figure out whether or not she should tell him. Stared at the bandage taped across her right cheek where one of Tarrlok's icicles had sliced through her skin. His jaw clenched at the thought of Tarrlok attacking her. Tarrlok kidnapping her.

Tarrlok hurting her.

Mako was snapped out of his hatred of the _former_ councilman when Korra sighed and bowed her head so he couldn't see her face anymore, her hands dropping limply from their meditation position into her lap.

In a small voice she said, "I've been thinking about what would happen if Amon took away my bending."

He instantly tried to reassure her. "Amon is not going to take away your bending, Korra! You're getting stronger everyday! And if by some fluke chance he _did_, you would still be the same kick-ass girl we all know and love."

She shook her head, still not looking at him. "That's not what I'm talking about. Yes, I'm…still afraid of what I'll be without my bending, but I've gotten over that. More or less." She sighed before continuing, "What I'm talking about isn't what will happen to me, but to the Avatar."

Mako was confused, Korra could tell as much by his silence, and so carried on, "What if, by taking away my bending, Amon manages to bring an end to the Avatar cycle completely. The Avatar would cease to exist."

Stunned by this revelation, the teenage boy fell back onto his behind as he tried to sort out what Korra was saying to him. If this was what she was thinking about, then no wonder she seemed so concerned. After all, it wasn't just her well being she had to think about, but the well being of all the Avatars after her and thus the world itself.

Still, Mako had a feeling there was something she _still_ wasn't telling him. Something that still concerned her.

Then it occurred to him; this was a problem. And problems need solutions. So if she was still concerned about it, then either she hadn't come up with a solution.

Or she already had one.

"You figured out a way to keep the cycle going, didn't you?" he asked.

She flinched and said, "Yeah."

'_This, _definitely_, cannot be good,'_ he thought as a sweat drop ran down his face despite the chill all around him.

He swallowed and asked, "So, what is it."

Korra is quiet for a minute before she took a deep breath and raised her eyes to meet his. In her eyes he saw numerous emotions including seriousness, melancholy, resignation, fear, an emotion he'd never seen in her eyes before, and above all, determination.

In a surprisingly steady voice she stated, "If it looks like Amon is about to take my bending, about to end the Avatar cycle completely," she took a deep breath, "Someone needs to kill me."

Mako was silent for all of two seconds before yelling, "WHAT!"

"Mako-"

"No! No way! That is not happening! You are not dying!" he rose to his feet and began to pace around the pavilion as if to escape from the inescapable truth.

Korra stood and reached for him but he kept walking in a circle. "Mako."

"No. No. No. No-"

"MAKO!" She finally grabbed each side of his face and forced him to a stop.

In a calm voice she said, "I don't like it either, but it's only as a last resort! I'm not suicidal!"

"Bu-" Mako was cut off by Korra's hand.

"The world will always need the Avatar. Always. And that's why," her voice cracked. She lowered her head and placed her forehead against Mako's chest.

"And that's why I have to ask you, if it comes down to it, to-"

Mako wrapped both of his arms around her and squeezed hard enough for her to hiss in pain, but still, he didn't let go.

"It will _not_ come to that," he stated.

From his chest Korra mumbled, "But if it does-"

"It won't!"

"Mako," she looked back up to his face and revealed the silent tears that had been streaming down her face, "You and I both know that we can't guarantee anything. We can't even be sure that this plan will work. But still, I have to ask you to at least try. For the sake of the world."

"And what about the sake of _my_ world! You and Bolin are the only family I have left!" Tears began to fall unbidden from Mako's eye and he didn't do a thing to stop them.

"You'll also have Asami; she really does love you, you know, and Tenzin, Pema, and the kids would be more than happy to welcome you if you just gave them the chance-"

He squeezed tighter. "But none of them are you! You stupid, wild, crazy, reckless, kind, brave, funny, beautiful idiot!"

Korra chuckled half-heartedly. "Wow, I don't know whether to be flattered or insulted," tears began to fall even faster down her face before she dived back against his chest.

"Mako, please! I can't bear the thought of being the very last Avatar to exist because I wasn't strong enough! I need to know that if everything goes wrong that there's still a chance the next Avatar will be able to fix it! Please, Mako! Promise me you'll kill me before Amon can take my bending! Promise me!"

She sobbed against his chest; begging and pleading with him to make a promise that he didn't want to make. To do the one thing in the world that he absolutely didn't want to do.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, Mako leaned his head down onto her shoulders and said in the quietest voice, "Alright. I promise."

Sniffling, Korra whispered back, "Thank you." And in that instant, Mako prayed to each and every single god or spirit that could hear him, that he would never, _ever_, have to fulfill the promise he had just made.

That he would never have to kill, the one he loved most.

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**See what I mean? **

**I _do not_ want to continue this!**

**It's too freaking depressing for my tastes and it feels like a jinx.**

***Knocks on wood***

**Again, anybody want to dare to write what would undoubtably come next, be my guest.**

**Just don't republish this story as your own and I'm fine with it.**

**R&R**


End file.
